


Meeting Death

by TWDObsessive



Category: The Walking Dead & Related Fandoms, The Walking Dead (TV)
Genre: Death, Established Relationship, Kissing, Love, M/M, Major character death - Freeform, Not my normal happy ending, Rickyl, Rickyl Writers' Group, life - Freeform, seriously Rick and Daryl die
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-01-02
Updated: 2016-01-02
Packaged: 2018-05-11 05:04:15
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,634
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5614915
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TWDObsessive/pseuds/TWDObsessive
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>“Meet Joe Black” meets “The Walking Dead.” Death becomes curious about what has come of earth.  As he’s at Daryl’s side for the archer's final breath, Death decides to borrow Daryl's body to explore a bit. He uses it to meet his next appointment - Rick Grimes.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Meeting Death

**Author's Note:**

> This was a plot bunny I got from the movie Meet Joe Black. (If you haven’t seen it, you should. It’s really amazingly powerful) I’ve never done a death fic and won’t ever again, but wanted to experiment with it at least once. I hope you all don’t hate me.
> 
> If you prefer my usual happy ending style- you may want to sit this one out. (Unless you are super curious and feel like crying)

He is death. He's always been death. He has one job and it's the job he's always had: he brings mankind from one world to the next. He supervises each last breath on earth. He is with everyone in the end.

All he knows of the world is death. He knows only little about life, but he knows it has changed because he's been called to more humans in the last two months than he has in the previous hundred years. 

From his short moments by the dying he knows a little of what's happened. Some of the souls he oversees leave bodies that still move. Still hunger. It is not his job to question these things, but he is curious. And he is tired. He would like to understand what has changed after all these centuries. To take an unused body and walk the earth as man and learn why humans do what they do when in the end all they get is him. 

He stands by an archer. Death knows his story as he knows everyone's story. Daryl Dixon can sense him. Can see a vague outline of the shadow of death as he gasps for breath. He'd been shot and left for dead in the woods by another group of survivors. Death had his schedule. He would be visiting them all soon enough. Every man and woman has their time. And Daryl's time was due.

"I know someone's here. Who are you?" the archer asked. His eyesight was fading and he was burning up, fever, infection, near delirious. He'd been left unable to move from paralysis for two full days. The delirious could see death sometimes. The old also, when they knew their time was near. The young because nothing can hide from innocence.

"Fucking chupacabra isn't it? That's how I'm going out. Motherfucker." He tried to move but it was futile. Life was draining from him quickly. 

"I am Death, Daryl. And I am here to see you to the other side." Death knew his voice was vague and wispy. Whenever he spoke with someone at the end, they'd know right away he was real. Everyone knows his voice when they hear it.

"No," Daryl said defiantly. "I can't leave yet. Can't leave Rick. I won't go." Daryl's heartbeat slowed. He didn't feel the pain from his wounds anymore because he was almost gone, whether he wanted to be or not.

"Rick?" Death asked.

"Rick Grimes. He’s _everything_ to me. I’m everything to him. His kids. They need me. I can't go," Daryl whimpered. 

"Why does mankind fight so hard against their end, Daryl? I'd like to understand."

"I can't leave Rick," Daryl simply responded.

"You won't be leaving him for long. Rick Grimes is next on my list." Death thought this would be comforting to Daryl, but he was quite mistaken.

Although he was nearly unconscious, Daryl registered the information and screamed out "Noooo!" with more fervor than he had when he cried out from the gunshots two days prior.

"Daryl. I'd like to walk among your people. Call it a vacation, perhaps. But I need a body. I will use yours, as you are no longer in need of it. I so hope you don't mind. I will find your Rick and will allow him to keep your company until his time is up later tonight. He will not know I am Death until the end."

Daryl didn't reply. He had lost consciousness from the fever. 

"Not really a vacation," Death said to Daryl's unconscious body. "More like study, like your universities, when you had them. To learn more about the other side of what I do."

Death put a soft whisper of unsolid shadow on Daryl's forehead. "There are no monsters where you are going, my friend. And your Rick will be with you soon."

Death swirled like a small, dark tornado around Daryl's lifeless body until the vague shadows were gone and Death was sitting up as Daryl, bullet holes gone, eyes alive again, but no trace of the young Dixon inside, only Death, curious and naive.

Death stood and looked at himself. He felt the warmth of the sun for the first time ever and quite liked it. He liked the clarity of earth that he could see now through his borrowed eyes. Colors he'd never been able to fully appreciate. The greenness of the trees and the pale blue of the sky.

Death had been watching Daryl for days so he knew which way to walk to get back to the prison. But even if he didn't, he'd find Rick easily enough, as he was due to perish by Death's side in less than 5 hours. And Death always knew how to find his next appointment.

\-------------

Death was welcomed through the gates of the prison with great excitement. He was not used to being so well-received. Glenn and Michonne (he knew everyone's name) hugged him with tears of joy. They called him Daryl because they knew no better.

"Rick!" Glenn screamed at the top of his lungs as they made their way across the prison yard together. "He's alive!" The group of survivors poured out of the prison. Rick sprinted from the garden and crashed into Death, wrapping his arms around Daryl’s body and holding Daryl’s head tight to the leader’s shoulder. 

“Daryl, God. It’s been almost three days. We were so worried.” He squeezed Death tightly with no signs of letting go. “ _I_ was so worried,” the leader said with a voice that registered lower against Death’s borrowed ear.

This was what mankind lived and died for. Human connection. Touch. Love. It was nice, Death thought. Warm and intimate and filled with affection. He wrapped his arms around Rick to try it out and the feel of pulling a human against him felt like closing the curtains down against a rainy day. Everything else was gone. He no longer saw the prison yard. No longer heard the others around them shouting for joy over the archer’s return. There was nothing but Rick. And holding on to Rick like this, Death better understood WHY humans find it so hard to leave other people behind.

Rick grabbed Death’s hand and wouldn’t let go. Carl came running out of the prison and crashed into Daryl with Carol shortly behind him. 

Death enjoyed the feeling of reunion. Of the welcome that came when death hadn’t. It was fascinating how much one person's life affected another's. How some of these earthly relationships seem to make one life out of two. How the presence or absence of one can affect the emotions of so many. Like the whole reason for living was to be something to someone else. And to have someone be something to you.

After everyone finally calmed and quieted, and Death answered questions with a story of tracking a deer and getting lost in the woods, the crowd dispersed and it was just Rick.

He was looking deep into Death's eyes, with his head cocked slightly to the side like he was trying to figure out a riddle. "What do you want to do tonight, Daryl? We can do anything you want. I'm just so damn glad to see you."

Death looked around the yard and back up at the sky that was now changing colors with the setting sun.

"I'd like to watch the sunset with you and talk."

"I'd like that too," Rick answered.

Rick led Death to the guard tower. It was high above the grounds and as close to the sky as they could get. Death walked to the rail in awe of the view. Of the greens and the browns of the earth below them and the pinks and oranges above from the setting of the sun.

"It's beautiful."

"It is," Rick agreed.

There were some soul-less bodies here and there against the gates where Michonne was dispatching them one at a time through the holes in the fence. And with each stab the color red screamed against the peaceful palette of nature even from the distance.

"The world has changed so much," Death said.

"It has."

Death turned to face Rick. "I wonder why it is that people still want to live in it. Why they still scream 'No' when death comes for them."

"No one wants to die, Daryl. You know that. You've fought harder than any of us. Don't give up now. I need you. We need you."

"Why?" Death asked.

Rick walked closer until there was barely any space between them. "Because I'm in love with you. You know that. Because I can barely breathe when you are gone for three days. Because this setting sun isn't shit without seeing you in front of it. Because having your hands on me and your voice against my ear gives me comfort. You center me. You're mine and I'm yours."

Rick slid his fingers into Daryl's long hair. Death felt the gentleness and intimacy of the touch and it was lovely. He waited to see what happened next. Patient. Eyes on Rick's eyes, a blue that that was brighter than any other color in the world. Even more striking than the shock of red blood from Michonne’s victims below.

Rick pressed his lips soft to Death's, the leader's mouth open, lips guiding Death's lips. His body pressed against the body Death borrowed from Daryl. And then they parted. Rick looked at Death with suspicion and he backed away, leaning against the back wall of the tower.

"Daryl."

"Yes, Rick?"

"The reason you were gone so long?" Rick started as he looked over Death's shoulder at the disappearing sun. "You don't get lost in the woods."

Death gave a wan smile and shook his head. 

"You don't let me kiss you like that without kissing back. Hungrily."

Death didn't respond. He just watched Rick's face.

"Daryl would never question living. Ever."

"You are right, Rick. He wouldn't."

Tears fell from Rick eyes silently and his face flushed. "Am I hallucinating again?" he whispered.

"I am in front of you, Rick. You see me. But you are right. I'm not Daryl."

Rick choked back a sob. "Walking dead and now.... Now what? What is this? Is Daryl... Is he... dead?" Rick's voice shattered on the last word.

"He is, Rick. I took him like I've taken everyone for all of time. I am Death."

Rick tried to stand taller, tried to look stronger, but it did nothing in light of the redness of his eyes and the sheen of tears staining his cheeks.

"I wanted to see what was happening here. Why business picked up so drastically, as it were. I had a sense of what had happened, but Rick, people still don't want to go. Even in the end, when I whisper against ears that there is no more fear, no pain. No more monsters. They still want to stay. I wanted to understand.”

Rick swallowed hard. "How? How did he die? Was it quick?"

"No, I'm afraid not," Death answered, always factual and not attuned to making news any easier than it was. "He was shot several times by scavengers, left paralyzed on the forest floor for two days."

Rick slid to the floor and buried his face. Pitiful cries of "no, no, no," fell from his lips muffled by the hands that covered his mouth.

"He didn't want to go. Even paralyzed, shot, starving. He was like most. Trying to convince me not to take him. Said he couldn't leave you. And your children."

Death paused while Rick sobbed heavily. He knew he wouldn't be heard through the tears so he waited for the man to grieve a bit. And when Rick composed himself, he stood. Death continued. "It's the people. Always the people. No one cries out that they don't want to leave because of their love of peanut butter or because they enjoy playing chess. It's always ‘my babies,’ ‘my husband,’ ‘my family’. Even the way the world is now when death should be welcomed more than ever.” 

Rick said nothing.

"I quite liked the feeling of that kiss, Rick. It was more than physical. More than just the pleasure of feeling the heat of the sun on my skin. And the joy when Daryl walked back into camp. Those feelings. Those are nice. I've learned this."

Rick pulled out his Colt and aimed at the face of his best friend, his lover. "What would happen if I shoot?"

"Your Daryl's body will drop. If you get him in the head he won't turn. And I will be a dark shadow like I always am waiting over your shoulder until your time comes."

"Why are you doing this? Why are you here with me?

"Because you're next on my list, Rick."

The leader didn't flinch. He stared Death down as if it would make a difference.

"I have _children_ ," Rick hissed.

"Oh, yes. Most people do."

"An INFANT!" Rick shouted.

Death nodded. "That happens. Daryl was also quite worried for them, but Rick, in appreciation for showing me a bit of this world, I will tell you... Carl and Judith are far, far down my list. They will both live much longer than either you or Daryl."

"When. When is my time?"

"Two hours."

"I won't go outside the gates. I'll hide in the bowels of the prison. I'll put guards at every-"

"It's a heart attack, Rick. You cannot hide. Your time is your time. You can not slow it down and you cannot speed it up."

Rick paced back and forth across the tower floor, the now-dark night sky behind him. "All this. Everythang we been through. All the danger? Walkers. Killers. The explosion at the CDC. And you're giving me a heart attack!?"

"I don't give anything, Rick. I'm here only to take. You can be angry with me. Most people are."

Rick slowed and stared deep into Death’s eyes. "Daryl. If you're fucking with me, now would be a good time to let me know."

Death could tell this was a last ditch effort before acceptance. "I know you, Rick. You already know this is real."

“I’ll go to Hershel. Tell him I don’t feel good so he’ll be able to-”

“It won’t make a difference in your end result, Rick.”

Crickets chirped for long moments as the leader slowly accepted his fate. 

“You have an opportunity here, Rick, that many do not have. You can say your goodbyes.”

The leader finally nodded and climbed down the ladder as Death followed him to Carl's room.

The boy, just twelve, was flipping through a comic book. Judith was coo'ing quietly in a laundry basket by his bed.

Rick sat on Carl's bed as Death stood in the corner. He was not used to paying so much attention to humans that were so full of life with so much still ahead of them. Carl and Judith practically glowed with hope and future.

"Hey," Carl said as he closed the book. "What's wrong?"

"Nothing, buddy. Just wanted to check in."

Death could tell Rick didn't know what to say. He had an opportunity to wrap up his affairs in a way most people do not. But watching, Death wasn't sure if that was necessarily a good thing.

"You've grown, Carl. You're so strong. You're not a kid anymore. You're a survivor." Carl just listened, glowing brighter from his father's praise. "We had a scare with Daryl. And if it had been me gone for three days and I didn't come back, I feel good knowing that you're a man now. That you can take care of Judith."

"I will, Dad. You can count on me. But nothing will happen to you. We all protect each other.”

Rick smiled. “Whether it’s ten minutes or ten years, when I’m gone, you know I’ll be with you always. I’ll be in your heart. Just like your mother is. You still feel her, don’t you?” 

“Yes.”

“You make me proud everyday, Carl,” Rick said, trying to swallow the sound of deep, aching sadness.

He turned to Judith and picked her up. “I’m proud of you too, baby girl. And I love you. And Carl will protect you always.” He kissed his daughter, put her back down and left the cell unceremoniously. 

Death cocked his head and looked at Carl. Rick had every right to feel proud. And he didn’t even know half of his son’s future. 

“You’re a hero, kid,” Death said.

Carl grinned shyly. “Don’t know about that, Daryl.”

“You will be. You will be a leader. And you will always have your daddy’s morals and his strengths. You will save a lot of lives.”

Carl shrugged. “Well, I’m never gonna just lay down and die.”

Death smiled. “No, I don’t suppose you will.” He left the cell and headed towards the yard where he knew he’d find Rick.

The moon was full and he heard Rick telling Michonne and Glenn that he’d take the next shift at the fences with Daryl. When they were alone again Rick turned to Death. “You want to feel it? Want to know what you are stealing every time to you take one of us?”

“Yes, Rick. That’s why I’m here. To understand.”

Rick walked to Death again. Bodies close like they were in the tower. “If this were Daryl,” Rick said softly and then he combed his fingers into the long strands of hair that used to belong to his lover. He pulled Death close and kissed him, his tongue and his lips desperate for reciprocation and Death figured out how and gave it, licking against Rick’s tongue, accepting the nibbles Rick gave to his lower lip, fitting his soft lips into Rick’s as their mouths came together and apart and together again. 

Rick dropped his arms down to wrap around Daryl’s waist, he pulled their bodies close together so every part was touching. Chests, hips, legs, mouths still moving slow and steady like the soft swell of waves at sea. Death moaned softly, surprised to hear it from himself and at the sound Rick stepped back.

“Love is quite nice, Rick. You are right. It seems a sad thing to lose.”

The leader stiffened, his body language indicating that he was not interested in discussing love any further. His soft eyes grew hard, determined, focused. “If I have a heart attack. I’ll come back. I don’t want my people to have to put me down. Rick handed Daryl his Python. You owe me.” Death took it and nodded. 

“Fair enough trade for the experience. I’ve been fascinated at what I’ve learned.”

Rick didn’t show any sign of appreciation. And Death hadn’t expected it.

“What happens to Daryl’s body when I’m gone and you leave it?” Rick asked.

Death shrugged as if it didn’t matter. “He will collapse from the same heart attack.”

“That means he’ll come back.”

Death looked up and nodded. “Yes. I guess it will.” 

Distant groans grew closer as they talked by the fence. Death looked out to see two of the soul-less bodies ambling toward the gates. Rick turned to watch them as well.

“Do you take them before they turn or are they still in there?” Rick asked.

“Oh, they are all gone. There is nothing but skin and bones. Do not worry.” 

The walkers grabbed at the fence and Death watched them curiously. While he was distracted, Rick grabbed Death’s arm and pushed him to the fence where a few of the links were broken, he held tight as Death discovered a little left-over human instinct to fight back. And then Death felt the searing pain of walker teeth breaking the skin on the back of his neck. Rick pushed him to the ground and pressed his own shoulder against the same section of fence, allowing himself to be bitten.

“My people need to understand what they find here. We were both bit. We had to put each other down,” Rick said as he pulled a second gun from the back of his waistband. 

“The way humans care so deeply about what happens, what they leave behind... It’s really quite beautiful,” Death said as he stood.

“Fuck you.”

“Death is easy, Rick. It’s the living that’s so hard to do. Daryl is waiting for you.”

“Will I be able to see? To watch Carl grow up?” Rick asked, his hard angry voice growing softer with resignation.

Death nodded. “Yes. Just as Daryl is watching you now.”

Rick looked back to the prison. Death knew these moments. The leader’s eyes were like a filmstrip showing him flashes of every moment he has lived.

“You should get ready and aim, Rick. Our heartbeats will stop at the same moment.”

Rick looked back, his eyes glassy with tears. “You are right. Death is easy. They are the ones you are taking from. My son. My daughter. My family. You aren’t taking from me. You are taking from them,” Rick said, anger creeping back into his voice.

“I’m afraid you are right Rick,” Death said as he aimed for the leader’s forehead and as Rick aimed for his. “But there is little I can do. I am Death. That is what I do.”

Death could see Rick’s face contort with the shooting pains of the heart attack. Death could feel them too. Pain like the walker bite but worse. And Rick held Death’s eyes as both of them fired bullets that dead-centered foreheads and drew shouts from the prison, everyone running out with flashlights. Family circling the two bodies by the fences. Cries and screams. And Death, a vague outline of shadow again, left them all and headed to his next appointments far, far away from the prison.

**Author's Note:**

> Ok- if anyone actually read it… let me have it. Tell me you hate me. I can take it. The good news is… this is just a story and I have 60 others where are boys are alive and live happily ever after!!


End file.
